2018-19 WBB Non-Conference Games

[1972Shocker]

RH: Shocker Freshman (Shyia Smith) Goes from Sprinter to Scorer

Shyia Smith, a 5-foot-11 forward, scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds in Tuesday's 70-61 win over Grambling State at Koch Arena, backing up her 17-point effort on Saturday in a loss to Creighton. She averaged 3.3 points in her first eight games.

"High school is, like, slow," she said. "Coming from high school to college, you have to sprint a lot. You have to do a lot of running and more defense. I'm finally getting the gist of it."

[1972Shocker]

Shyia does looks like she is finally adjusting to the speed of the game. Not necessarily by her speeding up but by letting the game come to her, not forcing things so much and just using her athletic talents in the flow of the game and the offense.

Not saying she is a finished product but she looks like she is ready to join Seraphine and Carla among the freshmen who at least a good part of the time get. Not that any of them are close to being finished products.

Jaida Hampton shows signs of joining the group as well be she still is a bit too much of a black hole on offense for my tastes and she tends to force things too much and not let the offesne help her. I think still is learning that some of the sutff she did in high school is not so easy at this level. She had a pretty good 2nd half today.

Still early in their 1st years but these ladies are looking to me like they will form the core of the Shocker team over the next 3 years.

Hard to tell if Dawnyel we'll develop into anything more than deluxe defender or not. She certainly has the ability to be a good slasher if she can learn when it's there, when it's not and when to use that ability to set up teammates. HCKA had pretty good luck polishing up Kiki Thomspon's shot. Hopefully, she can do the same with Dawnyel. Whether or not they can tame her wild tendencies with taking away her aggressiveness remains to be seen as well.

It remains to be seen if Asia and Trajata will develop into serviceable post players or not. I suppose the same holds true for the lades as it does for the guys with post players often taking longer to develop. Trajata and Asia certainly have the size needed to battle down low.

[1972Shocker]

Sabrina was fouled hard on a fast break with 6:46 let in the 2nd quarter and went down fairly hard. Looks to me like she landed on her right knee although I did not notice any twisting or hyper-extension. Hopefully, she just bruised her knee. After a time out Sabrina came back out and made her two free throws than was subbed out for the rest of the game.
.
Sabrina did not come out of the locker until about 30 seconds into the 2nd half. She wasn't limping much as she took a spot by the trainers on the bench. Maybe walking just a little gingerly.

[1972Shocker]

I think everyone probably is aware of Sabrina's sign language skills and why she has them but still a nice piece about her on the AAC Campus Connect platform:

https://twitter.com/American_Conf/st...52452707237888

[1972Shocker]

Vegas Bound: Shockers Ready for Duel in the Desert

The Shocks (6-4) take on Northwestern (6-3) of the Big 10 at 7:00 pm CST on Wednesday.

The winner of that game plays the Kansas (7-1) - Washington State (4-5) winner at 7:00 pm CST Thursday with the two losers playing at 4:30 pm CST Thursday.

My predictions are the Shocks will fall to Northwestern on Wednesday and will play Washington State on Thursday.

The Shocks might have a puncher's chance against Washington State (assuming that's who they play) if they play well. Washington State has an even bigger foreign contingent of players than the Shockers. With players from France, Israel, Australia, Portugal, Serbia and Bulgaria plus they have 3 players from Hawaii all from Konawaena HS in Kailua Kona.

Washington State is coach by Kamie Etheridge who starred as a player at Texas. She spent 18 years (1996-2014) as an assistant at Kansas State. She was the head coach at Northern Colorado for 4 years and is in her 1st year as head coach of Washington State.

This will be a good challenge and measuring stick for the young Lady Shocks with only one home game against Savannah State remaining before AAC play start.

These will be our only 2 games in the 18-days between the Grambling State game on December 11th and the Savannah State game on December 30th. Even with time off for Christmas that's a lot of time to for the HCKA to work on some things with this team. Let's hope that proves to be fruitful.

[1972Shocker]

Smith Tabbed Freshman of the Week by The American

in Shocker Shyia Smith is the AAC Freshman of he Week for her 15 point, 8 rebound performance in the Shockers' win over Grambling State.

Shyia probably had a better offensive game in the previous game against Creighton. In Shyia's last two games she scored 32 points on 10-16 from the field and 11-13 from the line, grabbed 11 rebounds and had 3 assists while turning the ball over only 1 time.

In her 1st 8 games as a Shocker Shyia scored 26 points while turning the ball over 9 times against 3 assists.

Hopefully, this will prove to be the light bulb coming on for Shyia. She certainly brings nice athleticism to the floor.

[1972Shocker]

Not expecting the Shockers to beat Northwestern but also not expecting them to be down 20-0 six minutes into the game. Ouch

Halftime: Northwestern 48 - Wichita State 15

The Lady Shocks have 19 turnovers in the 1st half.

Embarrassing and worrisome.

Final: Northwestern 65 - Shocks 43. Shocks actually win the 2nd half 28-17 which is a positive although I suspect with a game tomorrow Northwestern's reserves probably got a lot of floor time in the 2nd half. Shocks did cut the turnovers down to 4 in the 2nd half. (Note: Listened to the post-game portion of the internet broadcast and Steve Strain said Northwestern did call of the dogs in the 2nd half playing their reserves most of the half).

KU beat Washington State 71-63 in the first game. WSU vs WSU tomorrow at 4:30 CST.

Thought the Shocks might have a chance against WSU but now I am not sure about that.

[1972Shocker]

End of 1st Quarter: Washington State 19 - Wichita State 16

Not all that bad considering Washington State has made 4-8 three-pointers and the Shocks have given up 4 offensive rebounds and have turned the ball over 7 times.

Halftime: Washington State 40 - Wichita State 31

Shocks gave up another 6 offensive rebounds but only turned it over 3 times. Washington State continued to make a living at the 3-point line. The Cougars made 4-6 treys in the 2nd quarter putting them at 8-14 for the game. Chanelle Molina and Alexys Swedlund are a combined 8-12 from behind the arc but the Shocks seem content to let them fire away and hope they cool off I guess. The Shocks had their chances to stay closer but were not scoring very well going 5-15 from the filed and 5-8 from the line. Sounds like Washington State plays a game similar to Creighton which the Shocks did not defend very well either.

Jaida Hampton with a pretty good 1st half for the Shocks. 9 points on 2-4 from the field and 5-6 from the line.

Per Steve Strain Dawnyel Lair is no longer with the team. She suited up yesterday but apparently she was either cut loose by HCKA or she decided to leave the team sometime after last night's game or this morning. Dawnyel had some real athletic talent but her basketball skills needed a lot of work. I suppose what happens in Vegas will stay in Vegas.

End of 3rd Quarter: Washington State 64 - Wichita State 45

Final: Washington State 85 - Wichita State 59

Jaida with a pretty good game. 14 points on 4-9 from the field (1-1 on 3-pointers) and 5-6 from the line. 4 assists and no turnovers. Sabrina just missed a double-double with 9 points and 11 rebounds.

Unfortunately, the Lady Shocks were over-matched against this level of competition. The ladies get to go home for Christmas. Probably a needed break.

HCKA says that she and her coaches need to go out find some snipers.

[flyingMoose]

Dawnyel clearly had a lot of athletic ability (although limited basketball ability), yet did not see the court until several games into the season. I wondered a bit then.

[AuntofJHampton]

Dawnyel did not suit up for first game. She was in stands with family and friends sat across from me.

[1972Shocker]

In her post-game interview HCKA did not comment specifically on Dawnyel but talked about the challenges facing the first year players in general. Mentioned that most of them have been the best player on their high schools teams and when they find themselves as a role player it is a big adjustment for them. The description would certainly apply in Dawnyel's case but not necessarily a direct comment on Dawnyel. Hopefully, Dawnyel finds a situation that will be better for her.

[1972Shocker]

Creighton picked up a nice 83-76 win over a good USF team at the Florida Winter Classic in Winter Park last night. Creighton hit 14 of 29 treys.

Tulsa lost a close one at home to a decent Arkansas team last night 59-61.

Kansas beat Northwester 66-57 in Las Vegas following the Shockers loss to Washington State.

Missouri State beat La Tech 82-70 in Kansas City last night. While the Lady Bears are only 2-7 at this point they have played a pretty tough schedule (SOS ranked #25) and I think if the Shockers played then again at this point Missouri State would prevail.

Missouri State shot 29.0% FG, 15.4% 3Pt and 53.3% FT in their season opening loss to the Shocks. Last night they shot 48.6%, 28.6% and 66.7% agaisnt La Tech plus they outrebounded La Tech 50-31

The Shockers can finish the non-conference season at 7-6 with a win over Savannah State on Sunday, December 30th. Savannah State has an RPI of 345 so it would be big disappointment to lose to them at home. Whether or not this kind of opponent is a good warm-up for this Shocker team heading into conference play is debatable. Hopefully they will play a pretty clean relatively disciplined game. Play good defense, run good team-oriented offense and run (under control) when it is there. The Lady Shocks probably could use a confidence boost and this opponent could provide some of that even if the measuring stick is not very good.

Perhaps a nice Christmas break will allow the Ladies to kind of reset and refresh.

[flyingMoose]

Shockers 66-50 v Savannah State

After starting off with some brutal shooting (I think it was after the under-5 before the Shocks scored) and falling behind 18-7 at the quarter, the Shockers came to life and eventually cruised to an easy win against the Tigers.

Savannah got their early lead with some three-balls by Myasia Jones (all three of her makes were in the first quarter? the play-by-play is not up yet). After the Shocks moved to a box-and-one to slow her down some and started using a 1-2-2 three-quarter court zone trap, the game was soon well in hand.

The Tigers only scored three free throws in the second quarter, two of those coming in the final minute. The score was tied at 21 at the half.

The press continued in the third quarter creating some turnovers and layups for the Shockers. There were also several fast breaks for scores.

The lead grew to 62-36 before the end-of-the-bench allowed the Tigers to close the gap in the last four minutes of the game.

[1972Shocker]

Unable to attend or watch this game but going to watch the replay tonight. 21-21 indicates to me a lot of rust needed to be knocked off after the long layoff between games.

[flyingMoose]

Those in double figures were Jaida with 16, Carla with 13, and Seraphine with 11.

Sabrina had 10 boards.


I think this was the worst officiating crew we have had since joining the AAC.

[1972Shocker]

So the Shocks finish the non-con at 7-6. All-in-all about as good as you could have projected for this young Shocker team. Admittedly wins over Arkansas-Pine Bluff, San Houston State, Houston Baptist, Grambling and Savannah State aren't very good measuring sticks. Really hard to say how this team will fare in AAC but we'll start finding out on Friday when they travel to Tulsa.

The Shockers defense seems to be ahead of the offense although it has struggled some against the better teams on its schedule. Overall though I think the challenge for this team will be to score consistently. I did think they showed pretty good patience, ball movement and willingness to share the ball on offense against Savannah State. That will help I think if they can keep that up Even in the 1st quarter when they only scored 7 points they got a lot of good looks. They just couldn't make anything. I'll attribute at least some of that to the 10-day layoff since their last game.

What what I have observed Sabrina, Cesaria, Seraphine, Carla, Jaida and Shyia are going to have to carry this team in AAC play. Raven can help out with her rebounding and defense but she is pretty limited offensively and her 48% free throw shooting is a real liability considering she has more that twice the attempts as anyone esle on the team. Hack-a-Raven may maked into most ot fhe scouting reports of our AAC opponents. Shooting in general (FG, 3-Point, and FT) is a problem area for this team. Alyssia can be very effective but she has been pretty inconsistent. I did not think she played very well against Savannah State. 8-player rotation.

I'm not particularly sold on any of the other players. Maya is a chucker. Ashley is undersized and needs to improve her decision making. Asia actually has made a lot of progress and she hustles but just may not quite be ready. Jada can fill in here and there but she is looking like a career role player but you never know how much a player will improve. Trajata is looking more and more like she should have redshirted.

If the core 8 players can continue to develop, play hard and play good team ball and stay on the floor the Shocks have a chance to do better than the predicted 10 place finish in the AAC.

[New2Wu]

Glad the next few games are on ADN the announcers on Cox are too negative. I've watched plenty of games online (women and men) and never have I seen such negativity from the home announcers. I actually like to watch the game on Cox and listen to Steve Strain's radio broadcast, he at least brings a positive perspective to the game.

[1972Shocker]

Glad the next few games are on ADN the announcers on Cox are too negative. I've watched plenty of games online (women and men) and never have I seen such negativity from the home announcers. I actually like to watch the game on Cox and listen to Steve Strain's radio broadcast, he at least brings a positive perspective to the game.

I'm just the opposite. I like the objectivity of Shane and Denning and I don't think they are particularly negative. OTOH, I don't care listening to Steve Strain because of his "positive perspective". A positive perspective is great if it is based in reality. Steve's positive perspective is a bit too fantasy land for my tastes. I think Steve just views his job differently than I do. I'm not saying I want him bashing the team and players, just give me some objectivity to what is really happening. But, hey different tastes are what make the world go round.